Journalist….Photographer…..Author

A merry Christmas and a happy new year to you all. I took this picture in the wilds of west Papua during a controversy over whether the blood of remote tribal people should be used to find out if there was a gene in it that killed cancer. American researchers were working on this 15 years ago – and the world is still waiting!

In the meantime these folks wished me to pass on their good wishes to the outside world, so I hope they’ll be happy with me taking the liberty to include Christmas.

Prince William, second in line to the British throne, is due to visit Australia in January – but wouldn’t it be nice if he could fit in a ‘side trip’ to Vanuatu and say ‘g’day’ to a small tribe who worship his grandfather, the Duke of Edinburgh, as a God?

The word from deep in the jungle is that the tribe wants William to ‘drop in’ and they’d make sure that in exchange for stories about life in London, they’d tell him all about their lifestyle, cook him a great feast of roast pig and put on a show of traditional dancing.

The Duke has had a very special – and until I revealed it two years ago – secret relationship with the Yaohnanen tribe, on the island of Tanna. They believe he is a spirit who emerged from a mountain on Tanna, made his way to England and married the Queen – and as a special gesture they sent him a war club. All they wanted in return was a picture of the Duke holding the club. He duly obliged, posing in the garden of Buckingham Palace for the remarkable photo, and even autographed it for them. Letters flowed to and fro, with two more photos turning up.

The old man in my picture, Chief Jack Naiva, begged the Duke to come and visit his people but sadly Jack has since died and the Duke is unlikely to start trudging through jungles to say hello to Jack’s family these days. But his grandson, William could. And who knows, he could become the tribe’s new God.